Wouldn’t this be nice. I wonder if an $8,000 bike, $4,000 electric Dura Ace or $2,000 disc wheel along with fees for gyms, pools, coaching and nutrition plans would qualify??
Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., plans to introduce legislation that would make exercise expenses _ from sports equipment to gym membership _ tax deductible medical expenses.
“Regular physical activity remains the best preventive medicine we can prescribe,” said Kind, a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. “This bill will give people the incentive they need to sign up for that exercise class, join an intramural sports team, or join a gym.”“It would certainly help motivate purchases that might not have occurred otherwise,” he said
I bet there’s going to be a limit if it was to get through. In a climate of raising taxes or eliminating deductions on everything I would doubt this will stick. We’ll see!!
I bet there’s going to be a limit if it was to get through. In a climate of raising taxes or eliminating deductions on everything I would doubt this will stick. We’ll see!!
I figure there will be a limit too. I had a hard enough time justifying to my wife how I could spend $1,500 on wheels or $3,000 on a bike with no kickstand. Imagine trying to justify triathlon expenses to the IRS.
I used to deduct all my scuba diving gear. Of course I was teaching scuba once a week and had a weekend dive boat business. It was a way of paying for my hobby but I was careful never to turn much of a profit either. My accountant said it was all quite legal.
I was trying to figure out a way I could do that for my 2008 taxes. I would have had a huge deduction with two bike purchases last year.
Couldn’t find the loop hole though, so I still owe a ton of money.
Sucks.
I did it with a Sched C, but you can only take depreciation., which is still like 5 grand on a $10k bike. Plus all my expenses and mileage on my car. I ended up with a nice refund. This doesn’t work if you have a real job, though.
Having followed the fine gentleman from the great state of WI in the past I would suggest that all that is going on here is he is feeling left out of all the fun giving away of stuff that his party has been doing lately. He finally made it up to the microphone and couldn’t wait to jump on the give away band wagon. This was the first thing that jumped to mind that hadn’t already been given away. I wouldn’t expect it to have legs…
It’s not fair that some of us should have nicer equipment than others. Therefore, in the spirit of the new government, when you take your sweet rig to a race, please trade wheels with the guy with the schwinn varsity. Also, for those of you who swim like fish, we’re going to need to tie a rope to you so you can pull the fat, lazy guys. That way we can all hold hands, sing kumbaya and skip across the finish line together.
It’s not fair that some of us should have nicer equipment than others. Therefore, in the spirit of the new government, when you take your sweet rig to a race, please trade wheels with the guy with the schwinn varsity. Also, for those of you who swim like fish, we’re going to need to tie a rope to you so you can pull the fat, lazy guys. That way we can all hold hands, sing kumbaya and skip across the finish line together.
X2!!!
i dont think tri bikes or parts are qualified under the FSA… if it is… and you have successfully receive reimbursement, I would like to know what parts you claimed.
Haha,
I already deduct my tri expenses… at least as much of my expenses as I have income from prize money.
One other thought… I am no accountant, but many races support charities, so some portion of entry fees, etc. may be deductible anyway.
I did it with a Sched C, but you can only take depreciation., which is still like 5 grand on a $10k bike. Plus all my expenses and mileage on my car. I ended up with a nice refund. This doesn’t work if you have a real job, though.
I am wondering how that worked. You can only deduct your triathlon expenses from your triathon income, so how did you net a refund? Did you withhold that much taxes from triathlon income to net a big refund?